Intel said Wednesday that laptops costing $300, initially designed for poor children, would soon be available to U.S. and European consumers, a development that could further push down computer prices.
Computer makers in the United States and Europe will sell a second-generation version of the Intel-designed Classmate PC for $250 to $350, said Lila Ibrahim, general manager of Intel’s group for emerging market platforms, during an interview with Reuters.
Laura Didio, an analyst with Yankee Group, called Intel’s announcement “a very big deal.”
While the machines are intended for children, analysts said their arrival on the market would add momentum to the low-cost computing movement — and would probably mean that bargain-basement laptops available this year would have more power than previous generations.
“Particularly in a recession year, quality low-cost products are going to move well,” said Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group. “But the key is for them to be quality.”
He said consumers would probably be able to get “a pretty decent” laptop for less than $600 and perhaps for less than $500.
Didio said retailers might throw in another $50 to $100 in rebates or other incentives.
Laptop prices have been under particular pressure since last year, when Asustek Computer of Taiwan introduced the $399 Eee PC, which has flown off store shelves from Asia to North America. The movement toward low-cost computing was also spurred by the XO laptop, the brainchild of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nicholas Negroponte and his One Laptop Per Child Foundation.
The foundation began producing a laptop running on the Linux operating system at a cost of $188 in November. They sold them in the United States and in Canada for $400 through a charity drive that also provided one machine to a poor child in developing countries.
The Eee machine also runs on the Linux operating…